IDC latest to proclaim Apple world's top smartphone vendor

Apple was once again reaffirmed as the world’s No. 1 smartphone vendor on Thursday as market research firm IDC released its data for the June quarter. Smartphone shipments in the second quarter of this year totaled 106.6 million according to IDC, up from 64.4 million in the same quarter last year. Of that total, Apple owned 19.1% with 20.34 million smartphones shipped, making it the top vendor by volume and by profit in the quarter. “Apple’s success can be directly attributed to its distribution (more than 200 carriers in more than 200 countries), increased manufacturing capacity, and solid demand within emerging and developed markets from both consumers and business users,” IDC said. “Apple’s emergence as the number one smartphone vendor worldwide comes at a time when former worldwide leader Nokia is in the midst of a major transition. However, Apple has yet to top Nokia’s single-quarter volume record of 28.1 million units. But given Apple’s momentum in the smartphone market, it may not be a question of whether Apple will beat that milestone, but when.” IDC noted that Samsung was the No. 2 smartphone vendor last quarter with 16.2% and Nokia slid to No. 3 globally with 15.7% of the market. Several other market researchers have released estimates placing Apple at the top of the smartphone totem, including Strategy Analytics, which recently said Apple beat out Samsung (19.2 million smartphones shipped) and Nokia (16.7 million) to take the top spot. It noted, however, that Samsung’s 520% growth year-over-year far exceeded Apple’s 140% growth during the same period.